The longer we stay clean, the more we experience feelings of gratitude for our recovery. These feelings of gratitude aren't limited to particular gifts like new friends or the ability to be employed. More frequently, they arise from the overall sense of joy we feel in our new lives. These feelings are enhanced by our certainty of the course our lives would have taken if it weren't for the miracle we've experienced in Narcotics Anonymous.

These feelings are so all-encompassing, so wondrous, and sometimes so overwhelming that we often can't find words for them. We sometimes openly weep with happiness while sharing in a meeting, yet we grope for words to express what we are feeling. We want so badly to convey to newcomers the gratitude we feel, but it seems that our language lacks the superlatives to describe it.

When we share with tears in our eyes, when we choke up and can't talk at all-these are the times when our gratitude speaks most clearly. We share our gratitude directly from our hearts; with their hearts, others hear and understand. Our gratitude speaks eloquently, though our words may not.

Many of us have had the experience of encountering a newcomer at a meeting or working with a sponsee who just can't seem to get this recovery thing. We have wished that we could just pour experience, strength, and hope into their minds and hearts, but we know it simply doesn't work that way.

By participating in the hospitals and institutions and public relations service committees, many of us get a front-row seat to newcomers' awakening when we take H&I meetings to inmates or present PR panels to local schools. Initially, some students might attend to get out of class and prisoners to get out of their cells. Regardless of the motivation, many can't help but identify. We see the looks on their faces change from indifference and apathy to relief and understanding. The NA message has a way of penetrating through that tough exterior and getting right to the heart of the still-suffering addict. Sharing openly and honestly, from the heart, is the most attractive thing we have to offer.

If we were to run around like fanatics, proclaiming the spoils of recovery based on our specific gains and achievements, this would be a misrepresentation of the truth. The practice of goodwill in Tradition Eleven comes when we exercise discretion and deliver a simple message: Narcotics Anonymous can work for anyone with a desire to stop using. When the message is clear, recovery can take root.